4 Shocking Secrets You Don’t Know about Cartoning Machines Made in China

China – the Eastern Supremacy, is the dominating country of export in the field of manufacturing ever since its membership in the Word Trade Organization, as well as in the sector of packaging automation and packaging machines is China one of the leading exporters in the world.

Among all sorts of packaging machines, the cartoning machine is probably one of the most popular machines, and the market of which is already a Red Ocean that there are mountains of suppliers and manufacturers at your option. However, no matter whether you are a machinery dealer or a final user who is looking for a cartoning machine made in China, there are some hidden facts that people who do not work in the sector would never be conscious of, yet however, they are “open secrets”.

In this article, we will unveil some of these secrets to get you an insight into this market.

1. It Has Nothing to Do with Heavy Duty or Full Stainless Steel Construction

A lot of suppliers would claim that they use “heavy duty”, or “full stainless steel” to construct their cartoning machine yet it is not the truth. This is typical with those entry-level cartoner machines with models 100, 120, 150, etc.

This would not definitely be an implication that those companies are lying to you. The probable cause can simply be that they are just trading companies or resellers that have no knowledge of mechanical engineering or know nothing about how the real manufacturer is producing the cartoning machines.

For example, without any exception, all of the 80, 120, or 120 model cartoning machines on the market and made in China are built on AISI A3 Steel and covered with a 1.5 mm thick plate of SUS 304, or even SUS 201. Some would iron galvanized metal as the main structure. All these have nothing to do with the so-called “stainless steel construction”, and in fact, the only SUS used are those thick plates covering the machine.

This is especially to take into consideration if you are requiring a cartoning machine for food application and safe food serving because none of these materials above mentioned are safe FCMs and should not have direct contact with the food materials.

However and admittedly, it is unrealistic and unreasonable to expect a SUS construction cartoning machine at a cheap price of merely USD 20,000 or even USD 15,000. Since the same part or component when made of solid SUS 304 would be 3 times or even 4 times more expensive than if made as coated or galvanized iron.

2. The Cartoning Machine’s Size Changeover is Usually Tedious

Without no exception, all of these mechanical-driven and entry-level cartoning machines like models 80, 100, 120, and 130, etc., are of a complex size changeover process. Even for a trained person, the size changeover can take up to 40 minutes or even 1 hour.

Unlike those high-end packaging machines of multi-axis servos, these cheap cartoning machines are of completely mechanically driven structure that the size changeover involves a lot of manual intervention on those tiny components and adjustment points among the transmission system. Even if some of them are with number indicators, such a size changeover is more experience-based and is not repeatable. 

Why you should take care so much of the size changeover time? For a manufacturing company especially in consumer goods, the downtime during the size changeover would stand for the pause in production, which means, the longer the downtime is, the more considerable the loss in production will be.

3. Homogeneity – They are Basically all the Same

China s a nation of copy. This is typical in the packaging automation and machinery industry where people copy each other and then beat them with lower prices. The homogeneity in structure and design is typical with packaging machines made in China.

While in terms of electricals, some would claim that they use internationally famous brands, and people without knowledge would be convinced easily. A hidden fact is that, for example. it is unrealistic that you can expect something really awesome at a cheap price.

For example. most of those cheap cartoning machines made in China would use SIEMENS PLC, yet people do not know that the model S7-200 Smart is a very cheap electrical, 30 years old model and not locally supported in a lot of regions.

SIEMENS S7-200 PLC

4. You Will not Identify your Supplier

For some historical reason, buying packaging machines from China will always involve dealing with local resellers.

The reason was that in the early stage where and when China joined WTO there was a lack of talents and professionals who knew the foreign language well or say that those factories could not count on such people on their payroll, they had no choice but could only work with trading companies (Chinese local resellers for export) to sell their machines overseas.

Such a long-lasting reselling culture has grown into an issue, now that with more and more university graduates with competence in speaking and writing English or other languages flocking into the market and factories are now capable of dealing with export on their own, while on the other hand, there are still mountains of trading companies still live on reselling. A result is the lack of transparency and the difficulty in identifying who is the real manufacturer and who is pretending to be the manufacturer.

What Implications Are There for You?

We are not implying that buying cartoninng machines from China is risky, or just to scare you that this market is a mess, nor that you should only work with the manufacturer directly.

This is all about how to proceed with a successful purchase of your packaging equipment, to find a reliable supplier of packaging machine, and to avoid problems in the long run.